The ingestion of externally generated oxidative food products prepared, or otherwise cooked by a thermal process, such as cooking, cooling, storing, serving, and the like, may be carcinogenic. Such effect is believed to be the result of the depletion of electrons in the food as a result of the thermal excitation and oxidation of the food during preparation. However, by creating a reducing environment where electrons are supplied to the food during its preparation, the oxidative damage, as well as its carcinogenic potential, can be reduced.
To achieve such a result, cookware products have been developed that provides a food carrying vessel that maintains a pair of connection points that supply an electrical potential and electrical current to the food as it is being prepared. In the case of current anti-oxidation frying devices they use a wire mesh basket that carries electrons from an electron source to the cooking medium, whereupon the electrons are carried to the food being cooked in a cooking medium, such as vegetable oil. However, the porous mesh-frying basket is unable maintain a sufficient amount of surface area in contact with the cooking medium to carry the necessary amount of electrons from an electron source to create the electron rich reducing environment for the food being cooked therein. As a result, the food and the cooking oil itself does not receive the appropriate amount of anti-oxidizing effects from the electron flow.
An additional drawback of current anti-oxidation frying devices, such as deep fryers, is that frying oil is subject to harsh operating conditions, which result in its frequent replacement, which is tedious and time consuming, in addition to begin highly costly over time. Specifically, frying oil is subject to atmospheric oxygen, high heat, and moisture for extended periods of time, resulting in deterioration, and the subsequent production of off-flavors and harmful compounds in the frying oil, which necessitates the generally frequent replacement of the cooking oil. In addition, the frying process results in the accelerated formation of thermal oxidation and polymerization products in the cooking oil, and frying above 195 degrees Celsius causes isomerization of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the cooking oil, which is undesirable.
Thus, there has been much interest in methods of extending the useful life of the cooking oil, including lowering the temperature of the cooking oil that is used during the frying process. While using a lower frying temperature can slow the degradation of the cooking oil, it generally results in food that has an unpleasant texture and an unsatisfactory flavor profile. In addition, hydrogenation of cooking oils have been contemplated to create higher levels of unsaturation, which result in a more stable cooking oil with a higher melting point, and thus a longer useful operating life. However, the hydrogenated cooking oil results in the formation of trans-fatty acids, which have come under scrutiny for their negative effects on human health.
Anti-oxidants have also been incorporated into cooking oils to protect the oil and the food items cooked therein from the degradation experienced during the frying process, and to extend the life of the cooking oil. For example, antioxidants, such as butylated hydroxyl anisole (BHA), butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT) and tertiary butylated hydroxyl quinone (TBHQ) have been used to slow down lipid oxidation by quenching oxygen free radicals from the cooking oil. Moreover, citric acid, which is capable of chelating metals involved in lipid redox reactions, have been administered during processing to help protect oils from oxidation. However, fortifying the cooking oil with such chemicals poses a heath concern due to the lack of historical data on their safety, and given their negative perception by the public, and their unproven abilities in extending cooking oil life, their use has not been widely adopted. Finally, another attempt at extending cooking oil life and improving its stability is to utilize a filtration and absorbent process to remove the decomposition/oxidation products from the cooking oil. Unfortunately, this method is expensive and must be performed daily to achieve optimal benefits, creating a waste product that must then be disposed through a standardized process. Thus, it would be desirable for a frying device to be able to extend the operating life of cooking oil without such unwanted drawbacks.
An additional drawback of current frying devices is that they generally have poor oil circulation, causing the cooking oil to remain in contact with the heating surface of the fryer for an extended period of time, causing the oil to locally overheat. As a result of the overheating, the degradation of the oil is accelerated, necessitating its early replacement.
Therefore, there is a need for an anti-oxidation frying device that utilizes a frying basket that has increased conductive surface area with which to contact with the cooking oil, such as vegetable oil, creating′ an electron rich reducing environment to prevent the oxidation of the cooking oil, and extend its service life. Still yet, there is a need for an anti-oxidation frying device that is configured to supply electrons to cooking oil to create an electron rich reducing environment to prevent the oxidation of food cooked therein. Furthermore, there is a need for an anti-oxidation frying device that counteracts the carcinogenic effects that occur in the food when it is prepared by a frying process.